Bishop Earl G. Hunt, Jr. - Inaugural Sermon Part 1 (October 18, 1970)
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| (choir vocalizing) | 0:09 | |
| (dramatic uplifting music) | 3:47 | |
| (bright organ music) | 4:14 | |
| ♪ Rejoice, the Lord is King ♪ | 4:58 | |
| ♪ Your Lord and King adore ♪ | 5:04 | |
| ♪ Rejoice, give thanks and sing ♪ | 5:11 | |
| ♪ And triumph for evermore ♪ | 5:15 | |
| ♪ Lift up your heart ♪ | 5:24 | |
| ♪ Lift up your voice ♪ | 5:31 | |
| ♪ Rejoice, again I say, rejoice ♪ | 5:34 | |
| ♪ Jesus, the Savior, reigns ♪ | 5:45 | |
| ♪ The God of truth and love ♪ | 5:52 | |
| ♪ When He has purged our stains ♪ | 5:58 | |
| ♪ He took his seat above ♪ | 6:03 | |
| ♪ Lift up your heart ♪ | 6:11 | |
| ♪ Lift up your voice ♪ | 6:18 | |
| ♪ Rejoice, again I say, rejoice ♪ | 6:21 | |
| ♪ His kingdom cannot fail ♪ | 6:31 | |
| ♪ He rules o'er earth and heav'n ♪ | 6:38 | |
| ♪ The keys of death and hell ♪ | 6:44 | |
| ♪ Are to our Jesus giv'n ♪ | 6:49 | |
| ♪ Lift up your heart ♪ | 6:57 | |
| ♪ Lift up your voice ♪ | 7:04 | |
| ♪ Rejoice, again I say, rejoice ♪ | 7:07 | |
| ♪ Rejoice in glorious hope ♪ | 7:19 | |
| ♪ Our Lord and judge shall come ♪ | 7:26 | |
| ♪ And take His servants up ♪ | 7:32 | |
| ♪ To their eternal home ♪ | 7:37 | |
| ♪ Lift up your heart ♪ | 7:45 | |
| ♪ Lift up your voice ♪ | 7:52 | |
| ♪ Rejoice, again I say, rejoice ♪ | 7:55 | |
| (triumphant music) | 8:08 | |
| - | Beloved, let us continue the worship of almighty God. | 8:36 |
| As we face our inadequacies as His children, | 8:41 | |
| our shortcomings, our sins, | 8:46 | |
| as we seek to have fellowship one with another | 8:50 | |
| and a relationship that is redemptive | 8:55 | |
| with our heavenly Father, | 8:58 | |
| may we offer our prayers of confession. | 9:02 | |
| Our heavenly Father, when we are honest with ourselves, | 9:07 | |
| we know that we have often done those things | 9:12 | |
| that were wrong, | 9:15 | |
| we have avoided doing those things that were right. | 9:17 | |
| We have sometimes behaved like the lepers who were cleansed, | 9:21 | |
| but who failed to return and give thanks. | 9:25 | |
| We have been like the Pharisees who built the tombs | 9:30 | |
| of the prophets who were safely dead, | 9:33 | |
| while planning to crucify the Lord of Life. | 9:36 | |
| We have sometimes been quick to accept and profit | 9:41 | |
| by the fruits of Christian institutions in the past, | 9:44 | |
| while making a very weak and timid and half-hearted | 9:48 | |
| and uncertain Christian witness today. | 9:53 | |
| We have attempted to find plausible excuses | 9:59 | |
| for not doing what we knew to be right. | 10:02 | |
| Forgive us of these sins, O God, | 10:07 | |
| and give us grace to make a great improvement | 10:10 | |
| through our savior. | 10:14 | |
| Amen. | 10:16 | |
| Even as the scriptures call us to the confession of our sins | 10:21 | |
| and the repentance for them, | 10:25 | |
| they also bring us words of assurance and comfort. | 10:29 | |
| Jesus said, "Ask, and it will be given you, | 10:34 | |
| seek, and you will find, | 10:39 | |
| knock, and it will be open to you, | 10:42 | |
| for everyone who asks, receives, and he who seeks, finds. | 10:44 | |
| And to him who knocks, it will be open." | 10:53 | |
| Because of that we can be thankful people. | 11:00 | |
| Let us now bow our heads and lift our hearts | 11:04 | |
| as we offer our prayer of thanks giving. | 11:08 | |
| Almighty God, we do give Thy thanks | 11:14 | |
| for a moment of greatness now and again, | 11:19 | |
| and for the opportunity to seize that moment, | 11:23 | |
| when it comes. | 11:26 | |
| We give the hearty thanks for this moment now, today, here, | 11:29 | |
| when all of us have come together | 11:37 | |
| to inaugurate a chief executive | 11:38 | |
| and through that inauguration to rethink the mission | 11:42 | |
| of this particular community of learning. | 11:47 | |
| We offer under Thy now our prayer of thanks | 11:51 | |
| for Terry Sanford and for his willingness to commit himself | 11:53 | |
| to the heavy responsibilities of this important office. | 11:59 | |
| We give the thanks for everyone at any level | 12:06 | |
| who will in the days to come help make this university great | 12:10 | |
| in terms of its mission. | 12:16 | |
| We offer our thanks for Thy divine grace | 12:20 | |
| to enable us to be what we otherwise could not be, | 12:24 | |
| but want to be. | 12:29 | |
| We make our prayer of thanks in the name of him | 12:32 | |
| for whose glory this university was established. | 12:35 | |
| Amen. | 12:40 | |
| (light organ music) | 12:42 | |
| (choir sings in foreign language) | 14:06 | |
| - | Here began at the 22nd verse of the third chapter | 18:25 |
| of the Book of Lamentations. | 18:30 | |
| The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. | 18:33 | |
| His mercies never come to an end. | 18:37 | |
| They are new every morning, great is Thy faithfulness. | 18:42 | |
| The Lord is my portion says my soul. | 18:47 | |
| Therefore I will hope in Him! | 18:50 | |
| The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, | 18:54 | |
| to the soul that seeks Him. | 18:57 | |
| It is good that one should wait quietly | 19:00 | |
| for the salvation of the Lord. | 19:02 | |
| It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. | 19:06 | |
| Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him; | 19:10 | |
| let him put his mouth in the dust, there may yet be hope; | 19:14 | |
| let him give his cheek to the smiter | 19:19 | |
| and be filled with insults. | 19:22 | |
| For the Lord will not cast off forever, | 19:25 | |
| but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion | 19:28 | |
| according to the abundance of his steadfast love; | 19:32 | |
| for he does not afflict or grieve sons children of men. | 19:36 | |
| Amen. | 19:42 | |
| Here endeth the lesson. | 19:43 | |
| (bright organ music) | 19:46 | |
| ♪ Glory be to the Father ♪ | 19:54 | |
| ♪ And to the Son and to the Holy Ghost ♪ | 19:58 | |
| ♪ As it was in the beginning is now, and ever shall be ♪ | 20:06 | |
| ♪ World without end ♪ | 20:14 | |
| ♪ Amen, amen ♪ | 20:18 | |
| - | The Lord be with you. | 20:26 |
| - | And with your spirit. | 20:28 |
| - | Let us pray. | 20:30 |
| O God, who has taught us that we are members one of another, | 20:38 | |
| and has formed us for fellowship with one another, | 20:44 | |
| hear our prayer of intercession | 20:49 | |
| for all kinds and conditions of men. | 20:52 | |
| We bring before Thee our world, torn, destruct, anguished, | 20:56 | |
| grant strength and courage abundant to all | 21:06 | |
| who work for the world of reason and understanding, | 21:09 | |
| especially to the United Nations on this an anniversary. | 21:15 | |
| We bring before Thee our nation, | 21:22 | |
| land of privilege and opportunity, | 21:25 | |
| land of prejudice and a reverence, | 21:29 | |
| land of memory and of hope. | 21:33 | |
| Grant us to realize that what unites us | 21:38 | |
| is more lasting than what divides us, | 21:41 | |
| so that we may be the united states in fact, | 21:46 | |
| and not merely in name. | 21:52 | |
| And grant that each of us may give of himself to that end. | 21:56 | |
| We pray for our state, which seldom looks to the past, | 22:02 | |
| which is encouraged by the present, | 22:08 | |
| which has enthusiasm about its future. | 22:12 | |
| We thank Thee that its conservatism is not diehardism, | 22:17 | |
| that its races are not in continual opposition, | 22:23 | |
| that its leadership has been aware of needs and rights. | 22:28 | |
| We pray for our civic community | 22:34 | |
| so often set and rivalry to our academic fellowship, | 22:37 | |
| where our town and gown avoid | 22:42 | |
| rather than despise each other. | 22:45 | |
| Teach us that we are members one of another, | 22:49 | |
| and that it is good for brethren to dwell in unity | 22:53 | |
| that in courtesy and appreciation is our mutual wellbeing. | 22:59 | |
| Hear this our prayer of intercession | 23:06 | |
| and grant that some child now born | 23:10 | |
| may actually see that faction and war have ceased, | 23:14 | |
| that there is peace on earth among men of good will. | 23:20 | |
| We ask this in the name of the Prince of Peace, | 23:26 | |
| even Jesus Christ our Lord. | 23:30 | |
| Let us offer a prayer of supplication for our university. | 23:36 | |
| Almighty God who has created us with mind to know Thee | 23:41 | |
| as well hearts to love Thee, and wills to serve Thee, | 23:46 | |
| bless this home of the mind, our university, | 23:53 | |
| on yet another day for memory in its lengthening history, | 24:00 | |
| with gratitude, for a rich heritage, | 24:07 | |
| with a new threshold being crossed, | 24:11 | |
| with a wary and hopeful glance at the future, | 24:15 | |
| we ask Thy blessing on him, | 24:19 | |
| whom we are rightly honor this day, | 24:22 | |
| who first honored us by accepting our presidency. | 24:27 | |
| We commend out of university to Thee, | 24:33 | |
| praying that it may ever | 24:36 | |
| bind more closely learning and reverence | 24:38 | |
| to Thy glory and our good. | 24:43 | |
| In the name of Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, | 24:46 | |
| who was, and is a rabbi, a teacher, our teacher. | 24:50 | |
| Now is our savior Christ has taught us, | 25:01 | |
| we humbly pray together, saying, | 25:04 | |
| Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; | 25:08 | |
| Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done | 25:13 | |
| on earth as it is in heaven. | 25:17 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread; | 25:20 | |
| and forgive us our trespasses | 25:23 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us; | 25:25 | |
| and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. | 25:29 | |
| For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever. | 25:34 | |
| Amen. | 25:40 | |
| - | The life of the university, | 26:04 |
| and the auspicious occasion, | 26:08 | |
| which marks the inauguration of its new president, | 26:10 | |
| are inextricably interwoven with the theme of youth. | 26:16 | |
| This is that with which they have to do, | 26:23 | |
| or there is neither rhyme nor reason | 26:28 | |
| for this place or this day. | 26:32 | |
| So in a context of deep appreciation | 26:37 | |
| for this important institution | 26:41 | |
| joined so very intimately to the church | 26:44 | |
| by its basic documents, and in vigorous hope | 26:48 | |
| for the administration of President Sanford, | 26:54 | |
| I am honored to speak on his special day. | 26:58 | |
| My theme is "In the Country of the Young," a title borrowed | 27:03 | |
| from Professor John Aldridge's recent volume. | 27:12 | |
| I have taken as a text the very familiar sentence | 27:19 | |
| from Ezekiel 3:15. | 27:22 | |
| "Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, | 27:28 | |
| that dwelt by the river of Chebar, | 27:35 | |
| and by sat where they sat, | 27:40 | |
| and remained there astonished among them seven days." | 27:44 | |
| The setting is interesting. | 27:52 | |
| Ezekiel following his vision of the glory of Yahweh | 27:54 | |
| and his commission to undertake the task | 27:59 | |
| of a prophet of God, had in all probability | 28:02 | |
| repaired in the fifth year of the exile of king Jehoiachin | 28:06 | |
| to his own hometown in Babylonia, | 28:12 | |
| a place called Tel-abib, built on a low mound | 28:15 | |
| created for the flood whose name | 28:20 | |
| meant Hill of Young Ears of Barley. | 28:23 | |
| There he had a house | 28:28 | |
| and there he could maintain his association | 28:30 | |
| with the exiles dwelling by the river Chebar. | 28:33 | |
| Ezekiel's problem was to reconcile his glimpse of glory | 28:39 | |
| with the nitty-gritty facts of his moment in history. | 28:44 | |
| He had been given a task, but not told how to accomplish it. | 28:51 | |
| He understood the idealism of his new knowledge, | 28:57 | |
| but not its implementation. | 29:01 | |
| The vision had passed, but its power lingered. | 29:04 | |
| Only now he was baffled by what might be involved | 29:08 | |
| in causing the vision to live in that part of society, | 29:12 | |
| for which he had been given responsibility. | 29:18 | |
| But he had basic good judgment. | 29:22 | |
| He knew he could not ignore his fellows | 29:25 | |
| and he could not work out his mission | 29:28 | |
| in isolation from them and their influence. | 29:30 | |
| Therefore he sped a memorable week in their midst, | 29:34 | |
| listening to them, talking with them, | 29:38 | |
| evaluating their viewpoints, as he struggled to understand | 29:42 | |
| what God wished him to do. | 29:47 | |
| He sat where they sat. | 29:52 | |
| What a picture of today. | 29:57 | |
| What a picture of the church | 30:00 | |
| undertaking to structure the kind of society, | 30:02 | |
| of which youth at its best dreams. | 30:05 | |
| What a picture of higher education, | 30:10 | |
| endeavoring to apply its vision of knowledge and its meaning | 30:13 | |
| to a new day, a new generation, a new earth. | 30:18 | |
| What marching orders for all of us | 30:23 | |
| who live in the country of the young. | 30:26 | |
| The serious alienation, which we ordinarily refer to | 30:30 | |
| as the generation gap, | 30:34 | |
| confronts the Christian community at once | 30:36 | |
| with its most serious task | 30:39 | |
| and its most exciting opportunity. | 30:41 | |
| Surely one of the critical missions of the church | 30:45 | |
| and the church related university at this moment | 30:48 | |
| is to discover effective ways to bridge that gap. | 30:51 | |
| Let me attempt four suggestions. | 30:58 | |
| First, we must listen and understand. | 31:02 | |
| I am convinced that this is the initial step to be taken. | 31:10 | |
| A distinguished American educators said in a recent address, | 31:14 | |
| that one problem of which contemporary youth | 31:18 | |
| are painfully aware is the plain fact | 31:21 | |
| that they are not getting a respectful hearing | 31:25 | |
| from their elders. | 31:29 | |
| One is reminded of the late Adlai Stevenson | 31:31 | |
| writing in his book, "Call to Greatness": | 31:35 | |
| "I sometimes think what Americans need | 31:38 | |
| more than anything else is a hearing aid." | 31:40 | |
| In seeking material for this message, | 31:45 | |
| I had occasion to examine a great many volumes | 31:47 | |
| representing reasonably recent additions to my own library, | 31:50 | |
| discovering to my dismay that in 32 of these | 31:55 | |
| neither tables of contents nor indices | 32:00 | |
| made any reference whatsoever to youth in today's world. | 32:03 | |
| Perhaps the educator was correct in his indictment. | 32:11 | |
| Our listening moreover has to occur in a context | 32:17 | |
| of compassionate understanding. | 32:20 |
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